logo
Column: You know him as Pee-wee Herman — a new documentary dives into the life of Paul Reubens

Column: You know him as Pee-wee Herman — a new documentary dives into the life of Paul Reubens

Chicago Tribune25-06-2025
Of the very many famous people who admired the late comic actor Paul Reubens' singular creation named Pee-wee Herman — among them Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, film director John Waters, Lily Tomlin, Beverly D'Angelo, Jason Alexander and others — one of the most surprising might be Mike Royko.
'At first, when 'Pee-wee's Playhouse' was brand new, the character annoyed me,' says Royko's eldest son, clinical psychologist, writer and critic David Royko. 'Somehow, he came up when Dad and I were talking, and it shocked me when it turned out that he was a huge fan. Right then, he started imitating Pee-wee, his facial expressions, and, especially, his voice. Pee-wee cracked him up, big time. Dad was the first rabid Pee-wee Herman fan I knew.'
Mike Royko knew talent and he knew funny and he was one among millions who were drawn to the bow-tied, suit-wearing, toy-loving man-child with a distinctively high-pitched way of talking, a wild laugh and unbridled enthusiasm that Reubens developed over years before exploding into the national consciousness with an HBO special in 1981 and in films (the hit 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure,' director Tim Burton's first feature film in 1985, and the less successful 'Big Top Pee-wee' in 1987) and on frequent appearances on David Letterman's late night shows and in the TV series 'Pee-wee's Playhouse,' which ran Saturday mornings on CBS from 1986 to 1990.
We hear from some of his fans and from others who knew Reubens intimately, but mostly from Reubens himself in a compelling, two-part, three-hour-long HBO documentary, 'Pee-wee as Himself.'
The film is the work of Matt Wolf, who spent many years wooing Reubens and four years making the movie. As Wolf has written, 'For years, my dream documentary subject was Paul Reubens. Throughout my childhood, a Pee-wee pull-string doll dangled above my bed, and I'd stare at it every night before falling asleep.'
What he wanted to create was a portrait of an artist, and that is what we get, but we also meet a complicated man who hid parts of himself behind the playful Pee-wee.
We go to Sarasota, Florida, where Reubens was born and raised, and influenced by the characters of the Ringling Bros. circus that made the town its home base. His parents, Judy and Milton, seem to be fine and supportive folks, if the dad was a bit rough around the edges.
A modestly successful child actor in regional theater Reubens earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the California Institute of the Arts in Santa Clara, becoming that rare breed of conceptual artist who also craves fame.
Naturally it was off to Los Angeles and his years with the Groundlings, the noted Los Angeles-based improv group, where he became friends, for a time, with future star 'Saturday Night Live' star Phil Hartman, and where Pee-wee came to life.
His first paying performance as Pee-wee came, of all odd places, on 'The Dating Game.'
He was picked and stardom came fast over the next decade.
But it also came crashing down in the wake of his 1991 arrest in an adult movie theater in Florida and a charge of indecent exposure. He said the charge was false but pleaded no contest. Still, the headlines were so garish, the late night jokes so intense that CBS felt compelled to pull episodes of 'Playhouse.' Though he did manage to work as a voice-over artist and sometime TV guest, in 2002 he was arrested on charges of child pornography, stemming from his vast collection of vintage erotica. The charges were later dropped, but still remained tied to his fame as a kids' TV star.
He does not talk about either of these incidents at any length in the film, but there is enough in the more than 1,000 hours of archival film and interviews with his family and friends to provide ample evidence that he was unfairly victimized.
Much of the film's 40-hour interview segments with Ruebens were filmed in his sprawling mid-century Los Angeles house jammed with archives and collectibles. There are indeed some awkward moments between Reubens and Wolf, though one surely senses the filmmaker's affection and admiration for his subject.
During these sessions, often tense, Reubens talked publicly for the first time about his sexuality — he was gay — and detailed lovingly his college boyfriend, an artist named Guy.
Reubens was a man of many secrets, and the last one is chilling. As Wolf was preparing for one final interview, he, along with the rest of the world, learned on July 30, 2023, that Reubens was dead at 70, the victim of cancer that he had privately battled for six years. He had, however, the day before he died, made a tape recording on which he talked of that 2002 arrest. You will hear him, near the film's end, his voice weak, saying, 'More than anything, the reason I wanted to make a documentary was to let people see who I really am and how painful and difficult it was to be labelled something I wasn't. The moment I heard somebody label me as, I'm just going to say it, a pedophile, I knew it was going to change everything moving forward and backwards.'
David Royko and his wife Karen loved this documentary. So did I. It is a bit long but worth your time. It punctuates what a grand and influential talent Reubens was and how his greatest creation captured hearts and minds. The movie, the life of a complicated genius, will stay with you for keeps.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

David Letterman weighs in on cancellation of Stephen Colbert's ‘The Late Show': ‘You can't spell CBS without BS'
David Letterman weighs in on cancellation of Stephen Colbert's ‘The Late Show': ‘You can't spell CBS without BS'

New York Post

time3 minutes ago

  • New York Post

David Letterman weighs in on cancellation of Stephen Colbert's ‘The Late Show': ‘You can't spell CBS without BS'

David Letterman has subtly weighed in on CBS's decision to cancel his successor Stephen Colbert's 'The Late Show.' The veteran comedian, 78, shared a video montage of him roasting the TV network during his decades-long career of hosting 'The Late Show' from 1993 to 2015. 'You can't spell CBS without BS,' Letterman captioned the YouTube clip. 4 David Letterman has subtly weighed in on CBS's decision to cancel his successor Stephen Colbert's 'The Late Show.' AP The montage featured snippets from Letterman's episodes in 1994, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. The timing of the video, which was shared Monday, has sent the rumor mill into overdrive, as it was shared just four days after CBS announced the cancellation of the series format after 10 years. Colbert addressed the network's decision during last Thursday's taping at the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC. 'Before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night: Next year will be our last season,' he told the crowd. 'The network will be ending The Late Show in May.' The news was met with loud boos from the audience. 'Yeah, I share your feelings,' he said. 'It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of The Late Show on CBS. I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away.' 4 Colbert addressed the network's decision during last Thursday's taping at the Ed Sullivan Theater in NYC. CBS 4 Letterman shared a video montage of him roasting the TV network during his decades-long career of hosting 'The Late Show' from 1993 to 2015. AP 'We get to do this show for each other, every day, all day, and I've had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years,' he went on. 'And it's a job that I'm looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months. It's going to be fun.' Since his announcement, a slew of comedy's biggest stars — including Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Jon Stewart, Adam Sandler and more — have spoken out in support of Colbert. The network has publicly cited financial reasons behind the decision to axe the show. 4 Colbert said that the network cited financial reasons behind the decision to axe the show. CBS Notably, the announcement came just days after Colbert had ripped a $16 million settlement that Paramount, the parent company of CBS, had reached with the Trump administration. Colbert, who is one of Trump's most persistent late-night critics, said the technical name in legal circles for the Paramount deal was 'big fat bribe.'

'The View' host Sunny Hostin warns Colbert cancellation could lead to the 'dismantling of our Constitution'
'The View' host Sunny Hostin warns Colbert cancellation could lead to the 'dismantling of our Constitution'

Fox News

time4 minutes ago

  • Fox News

'The View' host Sunny Hostin warns Colbert cancellation could lead to the 'dismantling of our Constitution'

"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin warned on Tuesday that CBS canceling Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" could be the start of the "dismantling of our Constitution." CBS announced Thursday "The Late Show" will end in May at the end of its broadcast season. Though CBS and parent company Paramount said the choice to cancel the series was "purely a financial decision," and the show was reportedly losing the network $40 million a year, many liberal commentators claim it was for political reasons. Just days before the cancellation, Colbert slammed Paramount's recent settlement with President Donald Trump over his lawsuit against "60 Minutes" as a "big fat bribe" ahead of a pending merger between Paramount and Skydance Media. Hostin and her fellow co-hosts were also skeptical of CBS' explanation for canceling Colbert's show based on the "timing" of the announcement. She pointed out that if politics were involved, then the fabric of democracy could be in jeopardy. "My concern is, if it is political, then everyone should be concerned. People on the right should be concerned. People on the left should be concerned. Because it's very clear that, if it is political, this is the dismantling of our democracy. This is the dismantling of our Constitution. Right?" Hostin said to the cheering of the studio audience. She continued, "The First Amendment is the First Amendment for a reason and that is freedom of the press, freedom of speech. Freedom to speak truth to power. If that is taken away, if the comedians are being attacked, then that means our Constitution is being dismantled… That means the very rubric of our democracy is being dismantled. And I think every single person should be really, really concerned about it." Hostin praised Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for speaking up on the issue and demanding answers. Several other high-profile Democrats also spoke out against canceling Colbert, whose show was openly favorable to their party while hostile to Republicans. "We must protect our Constitution and we must protect our democracy! This is bigger than just the cancellation of a television show!" Hostin exclaimed. Her co-host Joy Behar blamed Trump for Colbert's cancellation and warned "all bets are off" if comedians are taken down. "It's always been the role of the court jester to make fun of the king. That is the role of comedians. I have said on this show, I think I said it years ago, when they start coming for the comedian, all bets are off, because the king is supposed to take the hits and this guy has a skin thinner than, I don't know, than this card," Behar said, holding one up. Colbert fired back against Trump on his show Monday night after the president celebrated his show ending on Truth Social, writing, "I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. "How dare you, sir?" Colbert responded. "Would an untalented man be able to compose the following satirical witticism? Go f--- yourself."

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store